Tonsilitis!

Don't know if that is spelt right. Oh well. Tonight I took Joshua in to the hospital with a fever... again. He has tonsilitis. It looks so grose in his throat. This is his second time in 1 and a half months. I am a little concerned that it may end up meaning he will have to get his tonsils out. I can't stand the idea of surgery. Maybe those of you who pray, please lift him up in prayer when you think of it this week. I would love to see complete healing and no reoccurance... but I trust God, His will be done. I know that it is sometimes easier to have these kind of surgeries done at this age rather than when he is a teenager or adult. Just makes me nervous. Other than that, the family is great and the doc says that Joshua is not really contageous because he doesn't have a cough. So off to church we go tomorrow. It is 2:35am so I should go so I can wake up for church. Thank you for your faithful prayers. They are much appreciated.

My Utmost for His Highest

July 30, 2006
The Teaching of Disillusionment
Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . . , for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from these deceptions. However, though no longer deceived, our experience of disillusionment may actually leave us cynical and overly critical in our judgment of others. But the disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism. Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another. According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious, and cowardly.
Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life. And this is how that suffering happens— if we love someone, but do not love God, we demand total perfection and righteousness from that person, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; yet we are demanding of a human being something which he or she cannot possibly give. There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord is so obviously uncompromising with regard to every human relationship because He knows that every relationship that is not based on faithfulness to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone.

Catch up

Well, I have been unmotivated to blog lately because I have gotten a little behind and I kept finding pics I wanted to blog but I hadn't. Still wanted to blog a few super cute ones of my holiday to Fort St John and some from Annabelle's birthday... family party. Here are a few to get me to the place where I can catch up. Hope you all are very well.

Red Sand Lake

My beautiful family! We needed to fill the kids sandbox we got them and so we debated on where to get some nice sand. Adam and I agreed that it would be nice to go for a drive out to Red sand lake and get some sand from there so that is what we did. The kids had a great time.
Joel is looking more and more like Adam everyday. They are so handsome!
As she ran along the sand she picked up pinecones and stuff. That was fine but we were walking by a family and they had a baby under a blanket and absent mindedly she tossed the pine cone. It hit the blanket and the parents looked really mad. It didn't hit the baby but must have scared the mom and we were very appologetic of course. Annabelle had to hold Daddy's hand after that. Pretty embarrasing!
Wished I would have brough bathing suits. The water is beautiful there!Pumpkin lounging in the sand we collected. You can imagine we had to get it out in the sand box as quick as possible. It filled the box perfectly and the kids LOVE it!!!

A fishing trip to Herman's Hole a couple months ago

Some people know about Annabelle's "angry eyebrows" as we call them. She tries so hard to be angry and show it, but it turns out to be this look, and I can't help but laugh at her. What a goof!!!
Don't know what was up in the pic but it was so cute that I thought that I better post it. "Strike a pose" little man!!!
Joel's muscles... huge hey? hahaha The kids all do this and grit their teeth and shake. It is so funny. It all started with Joshua teething and we thought that he was showing his muscles. Then all of a sudden his gums started bleeding and I realized that he was in so much discomfort waiting for his top teeth to come through so he clenched his jaw so hard that his bottom teeth broke into the top gums to let the teeth through. We had been calling it his muscles though and then after that he just kept it up when we would say "let's see your muscles". He taught the other two how to do it too.
My big sucker fish. Adam was proud of me even though the water was littered with them. He loves to see me catch fish.
This is my favourite thing about fishing, watching Adam help the kids. It is a great thing. I love when dads have something to always bond with their kids through. Adam really works at building a special relationship with them and I think that it will also build a life long friendship. Thank God it is so easy for dads to impress their kids. I love it.

My Utmost for His Highest

Wow! I really needed this one today. God bless everyone!

July 28, 2006
God’s Purpose or Mine?
He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side . . . —Mark 6:45

We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have the idea that God is leading us toward a particular end or a desired goal, but He is not. The question of whether or not we arrive at a particular goal is of little importance, and reaching it becomes merely an episode along the way. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself.
What is my vision of God’s purpose for me? Whatever it may be, His purpose is for me to depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay calm, faithful, and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish— His purpose is the process itself. What He desires for me is that I see "Him walking on the sea" with no shore, no success, nor goal in sight, but simply having the absolute certainty that everything is all right because I see "Him walking on the sea" ( Mark 6:49 ). It is the process, not the outcome, that is glorifying to God.
God’s training is for now, not later. His purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. We have nothing to do with what will follow our obedience, and we are wrong to concern ourselves with it. What people call preparation, God sees as the goal itself.
God’s purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious.

We went to a spot near the hog line that my buddy, Mike, showed me. Here it is. My wife's first spring salmon on!!! She did awesome but coming in it got off the hook. Wish us luck we're going back out today. Our fishing date excursion was on the 23rd, my brother, David's, birthday. 

Our wonderful church friend, Henny, watched the kids so Charlene and I could go on a fishing date. We started at the Whitebottom Bridge. Lots of fish but none biting. We stayed just over an hour. 

Millenium trail and good friends!

Well, I better post these before the day is a long ways off in my memory. It was on Saturday last week. Adam got off work and wanted a nap so I called my good friend Henny to see if she was up to going for a walk with the kids. I really wanted to let them try out their new roller skates. She said she would love to and then called Christy to see if she wanted to bring Tristan. We went to the Millenium trail and the kids skated for about 20 minutes and then we let them walk the rest of the time. It was really fun and Joshua actually did very well on his skates. He would get tired though and run on the grass. Annabelle said that they are too slippery but she did well trying. I love how they look in their 'get-ups'. Thank God for great friends and fun times, even when the kids are testing. I loved the time out. It is like therapy for me just to get together with girlfriends.
He is a great little skater. I am hoping to put him in ice skating the winter so maybe this will give him the confidence he needs.

Annabelle felle on her bum a few times but was so tough about it and then she decided it was time to just run.

Took a while to get them all sitting good like this and then the sun was in their eyes but they were just so excited about the bear. I told Tristan that it was tall like Daddy and so then he really needed a picture with it.

A quick break before continuing on with their skating time.

Tristan really wanted to have a picture with the train. What a sweety!

Tristan insisted on wearing the helmets but I think he prefered the princess one.

Henny, thank God for friends with no kids yet and unending energy level!

I love this pic. Kinda looks like the background is moving but they are not. Henny let Joshua cover her eyes and direct her left or right. He loved it of course!

Henny and Tristan. Tristan wasn't sure he wanted to go on Hen's shoulders until Christy said, "just like Daddy does Tristan!" and all of a sudden his face lit up.

Watching the cars, and ignoring Mommy.

By the end of the walk...

I need a little help from my friend!

My devotional for today

July 20, 2006
Dependent on God’s Presence

Those who wait on the Lord . . . shall walk and not faint —Isaiah 40:31

There is no thrill for us in walking, yet it is the test for all of our steady and enduring qualities. To "walk and not faint" is the highest stretch possible as a measure of strength. The word walk is used in the Bible to express the character of a person— ". . . John . . . looking at Jesus as He walked. . . said, ’Behold the Lamb of God!’ " ( John 1:35-36 ). There is nothing abstract or obscure in the Bible; everything is vivid and real. God does not say, "Be spiritual," but He says, "Walk before Me. . ." ( Genesis 17:1 ).
When we are in an unhealthy condition either physically or emotionally, we always look for thrills in life. In our physical life this leads to our efforts to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit; in our emotional life it leads to obsessions and to the destruction of our morality; and in our spiritual life, if we insist on pursuing only thrills, on mounting up "with wings like eagles" ( Isaiah 40:31 ), it will result in the destruction of our spirituality.
Having the reality of God’s presence is not dependent on our being in a particular circumstance or place, but is only dependent on our determination to keep the Lord before us continually. Our problems arise when we refuse to place our trust in the reality of His presence. The experience the psalmist speaks of— "We will not fear, even though . . ." ( Psalm 46:2 )— will be ours once we are grounded on the truth of the reality of God’s presence, not just a simple awareness of it, but an understanding of the reality of it. Then we will exclaim, "He has been here all the time!" At critical moments in our lives it is necessary to ask God for guidance, but it should be unnecessary to be constantly saying, "Oh, Lord, direct me in this, and in that." Of course He will, and in fact, He is doing it already! If our everyday decisions are not according to His will, He will press through them, bringing restraint to our spirit. Then we must be quiet and wait for the direction of His presence.

4 SPRINGS THAT SPRANG!!!!!!!!!

July 13th. Caught this beautiful 18 pounder. Came in pretty easy. I anxiously await my next spring!!! 

July 4th. I had fished a few hours. Had about 10 minutes left to fish to have enough time to get to work when I caught this 22 lb. baby. 

July 3rd. This fish was truly a gift. After fishing for over 2 hours on no sleep I watched a guy reel in this fish. He didn't want it and asked if I'd like it. HHMMMM, let me think. I found it to be a very tasty 10.5 pounder. Some people don't like white springs but man, tasty!! 

My first spring of 2006!! 21 pounder on July 1st. Very special as I caught it on my father's rod. What a fight. It took over 15 minutes and wore me out. Everyone down at Ferry Island applauded when the fish finally came in. Truly a blessing that the rod brought it in. My first and last spring caught with it. It broke when I pulled up lightly on a snag at 17 Mile. My awesome buddy, Todd, portioned and vacuumed sealed the fish up so I could share with the family. I know dad would've loved everyone to share this special fish caught on his rod.  

JESUS IS JUST ALRIGHT (DC Talk)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Okay, I have been meaning to post these forever. Here is a good start of my holiday pics and I will try to finish off tonight. We had a great time! I love traveling with kids, it makes everything more fun. Hope you enjoy! Just to warn you... there are going to be a lot of pics!!!

Canada Day, fireworks and snakes.

Just loving Nana
The kids loved sitting out on my mom's deck because it is 3 floors up, but really safe. Here they are having some really sugary juice and sitting on the doorway.
Nana was telling Annabelle all sorts of stuff about the buildings we could see. I am not sure about Annabelle's look on her face as it was not a sad story.
Grose pink teeth, the dye was pretty strong in that juice!!! My friend Henny saw this picture and laugh her but off, she said that he looks just like Wallace on Wallace and Gromit. I can see the resemblance!!! haha
All ready to watch the fireworks

Well, For July 1st, we went to Bernadette and Rod's place to sit on their deck and watch the fireworks. The people in the apartment above just happened to have a huge snake, and knowing the kinda girl Annabelle is you could probably guess that she wanted to see it. The lady who owned the snake decided to bring it down as it is not a really dangerous snake at this size. I forget what kind it was but they can grow up to around 35 feet long I think that she said. So anyways, she was 7 feet long here and this girl had the snake (Beauty) from the time she was about 6 inches long and hand raised her. She is a constrictor of some sort so I am sure at some point she will be pretty dangerous to dangle on her neck. Oh well, it was just REALLY a neat experience for Annabelle. Joshua looks a little nervous hey... hahaha. Mom was showing Annabelle that the snake was nice.
Still nervous... but Annabelle was so brave and as soon as the snake was gone she told me that she really wants a snake. She wanted one before but now she REALLY does!
This is the lady who owned the snake, I bet you could have guessed that!

Coolest Mcdonalds Ever!!!

We went to this McDonalds a couple times during our visit because the kids loved it so much! It had a great play place in it and even a bunch of toys that were floor level for the little kids. Here were are having lunch before the big play time.

Joshua loved to go up here but then would come back down the stairs in the tree because he was scared to go down the slides. Bernadette and I were trying to encourage him to go because they would be so fun and reassured him that they wouldn't be too scary so the second day that we went here, he got up the courage and I was so proud... so was he...

Floor level toys. Really cool too!
Annabelle heading up the stairs to go down the big slides. No fear here!